NOAA's
Office of Education is now accepting applications for environmental
literacy projects in support of K-12 education. Funded projects will
have a duration of one and five years and will promote changes in
K-12 education to expand the amount of earth system science taught
in the classroom and improve student learning of the subject.

Successful
projects will catalyze change in K-12 education through development
of new programs, materials, revision of existing programs and/or materials
by supporting transformative methods that expand the use of earth
system science in K-12 classrooms. Projects are encouraged to further
the use of earth system science concepts, such as the concepts articulated
in the ocean literacy essential principles and fundamental concepts.

Pre-proposals
are required and are due Wednesday, November 29, 2006. Full proposals
are due Wednesday, March 21, 2007. Please visit http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/funding_opps.html
for the full announcement and additional information. This funding
opportunity's ID on grants.gov is SEC-OED-2007-2000863.

All
projects shall employ the relevant strategies articulated in the NOAA
Education Plan and should be implemented at a state or multi-state
level and have evaluations that fully assess the strengths and weaknesses
of the proposed project. It is anticipated that final recommendations
for funding under this announcement will be made by June 30, 2007,
and that projects funded under this announcement will have a start
date no earlier than September 15, 2007.

Projects
might focus on the education of pre-service teachers or the professional
development for in-service teachers where it supports the creation
and retention of highly qualified teachers and/or the development
of new, or modification of existing K-12 curricula and related instructional
materials. Projects focusing on pre-service education of teachers
should involve colleges of education or other entities that provide
pre-service teacher education. Projects regarding inservice teacher
professional development should involve state departments of education
and/or school districts as appropriate. Projects focusing on the development
of new, or modification of existing, curricula and related instructional
materials should be able to demonstrate how they will address the
relevant state standards, support state or national assessments, and
be disseminated at the state or multi-state level.

Projects
on free-choice learning or development of new data visualizations
and platforms will not be considered for funding through this announcement.

In 2007 NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates
200 years of science and service to the nation. Starting with the
establishment of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1807 by Thomas
Jefferson much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.
The agency is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national
safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related
events and information service delivery for transportation, and by
providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine
resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of
Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is
working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the
European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is
as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.